Chapter 24 - Lurking Lies.

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I stood frozen by shock and disbelief. If Zeke's dad was the head manager, it meant he had everything to do with what was happening. Not just that, he was in charge of it.  So that's who Mr Daniels was. I felt broked, betrayed. I was finally beginning to believe that Zeke was ok, that his dad was just a part of the whole thing, that he didn't plan all of this. But now it was all different. Now I knew. 

"Maydah are you listening?" Azalea asked.

"Of course."

She shot me a sarcastic face.

"Kind of,"

She raised her eyebrows.

"Ok, ok.."

"What's the matter Maydah? You're tuning out everything, you haven't touched your lunch and you didn't even realise that your mobile's been vibrating for the last two minutes!" Azalea pointed.

I looked at my mobile vibrating on the spot. Azalea was right, I was tuning out everything. I unlocked it and saw two new text messages, one was from Mazin,

'Your dad will be able to come home tomorow! I'll come get you from school, don't walk home!'

And the other from Auntie Aasiyah:

'Not sure if Mazin texted but your dad will be home tomorow! Big dinner to celebrate Inshallah.."

"Dad's coming home tomorow," I said, lightening up my mood.

"That's great! Now tell me what's wrong."

"You remember that Zeke guy I was telling you about?" I started.

"You mean he is a spy!" Azalea's eyes widened.

"His dad is the head manager of the authorities."

"No way!" Azalea exclaimed.

School dragged on, I was able to avoid Zeke for the rest of the day, but I noticed him eyeing me suspiciously in the car park. Luckily Mazin arrived on time so he couldn't come up and talk to me.

"Hey kid, you got my text?" Mazin asked.

"Yeah, Alhamdulillah!" I grinned.

"So why all the hurry to get out of school? You literelly ran to the car!"

"It's school Mazin, you've been away from it for too long," I joked.

"I guess your right," He sighed making the u-turn.

"Mazin, you know when you had to go to the Authorites to sign that contract, who's office where you in?" I asked suddenly curious.

"Mr something," He replied vaguely.

"Not Hensus?"

"Nope."

"Was it Mr Daniels?" I asked.

Mazin nearly hit the sidewalk, than turned to me.

"How do you know?" He asked sharply.

"I guessed."

"Maydah, how do you know Mr Daniels?" He asked again.

"His son goes my school." I answered.

"So you don't know Daniels personally?" He asked narrowing his eyes.

"No, I don't, why?" I inclined.

Mazin took a deep breath and carried on driving.

"Mazin why-" I started.

"Because I found something else in his office." Mazin stated.

"What?"

"Auntie Aasiyah is at the supermarket," Mazin said when we were home. "So this stays only between me and you, got it?"

I nodded.

Mazin took out a file.

"The authorities plan out their dirty work very carefully, so carefully in fact, that no one can even think of suspecting them."

"I don't understand."

"We recently found out that your mother's death was no incident. The people who killed her however, remained anonymous.. Until now. The authorites, you see, did not hire people to do their dirty work, that would be too risky, they could easily have a slip of tongue that way, with more rumours against them going around the neighbourhood. So instead, they did it themself. The managers of the authorities set out to eliminate Jaidah, your mom. And the head manager is the one who stabbed the knife that took her life."

I was having difficulty breathing now, all this information at once, all this anger, this huge hole in my heart where my mom should be.

"Mazin, Maydah, come help me with the bags!" Auntie Aasiyah was home.

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